


Stowaway

by ElisaPhoenix



Series: Mama Bear AntLord [21]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Family Bonding, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, M/M, Mama Bear Stephen Strange, Other, Papa Bear Peter Quill, Parent Peter Quill, Protective Peter Quill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-18 23:44:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22301806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/pseuds/ElisaPhoenix
Summary: Quill takes a usual trip out into space until he realizes Cassie accidentally stowed away.
Relationships: Cassie Lang & Peter Quill, Scott Lang/Peter Quill
Series: Mama Bear AntLord [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1469342
Comments: 28
Kudos: 133





	1. Chapter 1

"How long this time?"  
"Two weeks tops." Quill mumbles after leaning down to kiss Scott. "Maybe not even that."  
Scott huffs. "Make it quick."  
"I'll miss you too Sugar."

The celestial kisses between the younger man's brows, and then pulls away to get onto the Milano. He throws his duffle bag into his room before heading up to the cockpit and making one more check before he sat down and flew the ship out of the tower's hangar. After a few jumps to get into space, he turns on the ship's autopilot so he can go back down and equip himself with some weapons and look at the maps to plan out his trip. The faster he helped the Guardians, the faster he could go back home to his family. He actually preferred Earth to space now because of them.

Quill winces when his Gaze forces itself upon him and he looks to see Cassie sitting up from the floor while rubbing her head. She must have tripped. She'd probably go to Scott or Stephen to get it looked at and she would be fine. Quill just found it odd how forcefully his powers made him look this time.

Until he noticed Cassie's surroundings. Metal. Lots of it. In fact, it looked suspiciously like the Captain's Quarters just around the corner from where he was standing. That couldn't be right though.

Quill's eyes widen. "Oh fuck!"

Just before he left, he asked the teen to grab something off his ship, but he didn't realize she never left it. He just brought his daughter out into space. The one place he didn't want his family. He drops the other tools in his hands on the table and rushes into his room, finding the teenage girl using his bed to get to her feet.

"Cassie?!" The pirate rushes forward and gently grabs her face to examine the weeping cut on her forehead. "Shit."  
"It's okay. I'm okay. I just lost my footing." She assures him.  
"Yeah, because I flew the ship out here without realizing you were still on it!" Quill uses his powers to heal the cut on her forehead and she looks at him in confusion.  
"Out here?" Cassie blinks and then her mouth forms an 'O'. "We're in space?!"

Quill sighs when she pushes past him and climbs up the stairs to the cockpit and she looks out the window in awe. The celestial joins her and follows her gaze to the endless amount of stars stretched out before them, and Cassie grins.

"Peter is going to be so jealous."  
"I gotta turn around and take you home." Quill sits in the nearby chair and Cassie grabs his arm when he reaches for the controls.  
"No, wait! Please let me stay!"  
" _Hell no!_ Space isn't as pretty as it looks! It's dangerous-"  
"I promise I'll listen to you! Please, Papa!" Cassie begs. "I'm on break from school so I won't be missing anything!"

Quill hesitates. He would have to fuel up on a nearby planet anyway if he was going to take Cassie home. He always had to make sure the ship had enough fuel when he went home so that when he came out again he would have enough to get to the nearest planet...and this trip out was supposed to be a simple trip. Practically errands.

Scott was going to murder him.

The god gets back up and leads Cassie down the stairs to the maps and table. "You listen to _everything_ I tell you to do no matter what, and don't argue." The teen nods her head. "I'm definitely the boss out here. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to stay on the ship--"  
"I stay on the ship." Cassie finishes and throws her arms around Quill. "Thank you!"  
"This is totally against my better judgement." Quill grumbles.

He grabs a portable space suit from the collection on the wall as well as an aero-rig and hands them to Cassie. He makes sure he shows her how to use them correctly and then grabs a spare Ravager jacket from his room. It could get cold in space on certain planets and he wanted to make sure Cassie had somewhere to put the portable rigs so she had them with her at all times. Quill was definitely making sure she was prepared for anything and able to get away if needed. 

"So where are we going?" Cassie asks as she puts her hair in a side braid and ties it off.  
Quill sends a message to Tony before swiping the screen away to go back to plotting their course. "Xandar...or what they rebuilt of it anyway. I have to refuel the ship and restock provisions." Cassie picks up a grenade and inspects it curiously. "Don't press the button unless you want to blow us up."  
Cassie carefully puts the grenade back on the table. "Umm...I don't have any clothes."  
"We'll find you something on Xandar."  
"How long will it take to get there?"  
"By Earth standards, tomorrow morning." Quill finishes mapping out the trip and dismisses the screen.  
"Guess I'm sleeping in these clothes too." Cassie mumbles.  
"You can wear one of my shirts tonight."  
"Where will I be sleeping?"  
"My room. It's really the only one anyway. The other rooms have been converted back to storage rooms."

Cassie nods and wanders off to explore the ship thoroughly with Quill's permission, and the celestial stands by the table to make repairs to his tools and weapons after starting the cassette player. He bobs his head in time to the beat as he works, keeping an ear out for Cassie in case she needs him. Despite the fact that he didn't want her out in space with him in the first place, it was nice to have someone keeping him company. Space felt lonely ever since Scott and Cassie became his family, but he managed because of his friends and the knowledge that he had a home to go back to on Earth.

He had a husband and daughter waiting for him. Nieces and nephews...he had a lot to go home to now.

Quill's stomach growls about an hour later and he grabs a bag of dried meat off the shelf in the food storage room. "Baby girl! You hungry?"  
Cassie peeks her head into the room and the pirate holds out the open bag. "Depends. Is that alien?"  
"Cow." The teen digs out a small handful of jerky and Quill brings it back to himself to grab his own handful. "You won't be able to be picky for long. You know I wouldn't give you something you shouldn't have."  
"I know." Cassie chews thoughtfully as she looks around after she and Quill leave the storage room. "Don't you get bored?"  
"Sometimes. I have a deck of cards." Quill offers.

The teenager nods and Quill digs out the pack of cards from one of his many junk drawers, and they play card games and eat jerky up until Cassie gets tired. It was about the time she went to bed on Earth and Quill went to his room with her to dig out one of his shirts for her to wear to bed. He didn't bother with a pair of sweatpants or shorts since they would fall right off of her, and his shirt covered enough of her anyway. At least enough that she was comfortable sharing his bed. It wouldn't be the first time he saw her in just an oversized shirt as pajamas either. As long as she was comfortable, it didn't bother him.

Quill left the room so she could change and crawl into bed, and he didn't retire to bed himself until a couple of hours later. Cassie was fast asleep on one side of the bed and Quill didn't think twice about changing in the room. He made sure to pull on a tank top and pajama pants before he got into bed next to her, but seeing grown men in nothing but their boxers was unfortunately nothing new to Cassie. She'd seen her dad and Quill, Tony (and very likely Stephen at least once), Bucky, Sam, and even the boys. It didn't even faze her.

He wasn't sure if that was worrying or not, but he settled on not since most everyone else didn't seem concerned. She actually walked in on both Peter and Harley while they were changing and not a single one of them gave a shit. The boys just continued changing while Cassie got whatever it was she needed from one of their rooms. Quill still didn't know what she needed from Harley's room and eventually figured that he must have taken something from Peter's that she needed.

He still didn't know how he felt about knowing she had things in Peter's bedroom and bathroom. Quill understood Diana's room since Cassie spent the night in the little girls room a lot, but Peter's? Whatever. The celestial trusted her.

Why was he even thinking about this?

"Ugh...teenage girls…" Quill grumbles as he lays on his stomach and hugs his pillow tightly.

Just before he falls asleep, he feels the bed shift and the god in him purrs protectively when his daughter curls into his side. The poor thing was probably cold since she wasn't used to space or the Milano's interior temperature, and unconsciously seeked out his warmth. Even if there was an extra bedroom, Quill would probably end up with Cassie in his room either for heat or just the fact that she was in a very strange environment. He really was all she had right now. She wasn't at home where she had the Stark's or the Avengers to go to if she needed someone or something. She was in the middle of space with only Quill.

That was a sobering thought. He really did need to keep her safety at the forefront of his mind...not that it wasn't in the first place.

Quill groans when his ship alerts him that they're nearing Xandar, feeling like he had just closed his eyes, and stumbles out of bed. Cassie sits up half asleep, as the alert woke her up too, and the celestial leans over to kiss the top of her head.

"Go back to sleep for a bit Sunshine. Just gotta land the ship."

Cassie mumbles out some sort of affirmation and lays down before rolling onto Quill's side of the bed for the warmth he left behind. The god leaves the room and heads up to the cockpit so he can land his ship on Xandar, and as soon as that's done, he walks back into his room and gets dressed. Just as he pulls on his jacket, he hears people clambering onto the ship and he curses before dashing out of his room to meet the Guardians.

"Hey! Be quiet!" Quill hisses out.  
Rocket gives him a look of confusion. "Why?"  
"My kid is still asleep."  
"You brought your kid out here?!"  
"It was an accident. Now shut up." Quill warns.  
"I am Groot!"  
Quill looks up from his belt after hooking some grenades and tools onto it. "Why are you asking if I have some units to spare?"  
"We need to restock on food." Nebula answers.  
"Yeah? Well so do I. I need to refuel, restock, and get Cass some clothes for while she's out here." Quill hooks his guns onto his pants. "Get out of my food Drax!"  
"Earth food is strange."

Quill grabs the bag from Drax and shoves it back onto the shelf just as Cassie walks out of the bedroom dressed and looking a little more awake. She greets the Guardians quietly as she joins Quill and they all leave the ship once the celestial tells them he'll get back to them on the units. 

"I'm seeing, but my brain isn't quite processing." Cassie says as she looks around at the different alien species roaming the city.  
Quill laughs. "You'll be out here long enough to get used to it. Let's get food and clothes while my ship is being refueled. Stay close."  
"Is there something similar to coffee out here?"  
"You don't want it."  
Cassie tilts her head to look up at him. "Why?"  
"Tastes like sweaty--"  
"EWW! OKAY!" She pushes Quill when he laughs. "Why do you have to be so gross?"  
"Revenge for dragging me out on shopping trips with you and Dia."  
"If that's really the reason, that's kind of extreme. I have to deal with you and Dad."  
"Fair point. I'll hold off until I think of a better reason." Quill promises.

Cassie just rolls her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Even in space Cassie took her time getting clothes, but at least it was a little more bearable for Quill since he had to make some choices himself. He had to prepare her for possible weather conditions, temperature fluctuations, and everything else in between in case she had to leave the ship when they were elsewhere. When that was finally done, they stocked up on food and carried everything back to the Milano where Quill put the food away and Cassie changed into her new clothes. The celestial holds out some food when she comes back out of the Captain's Quarters, and she eyes the food suspiciously before shrugging and taking it.

"So do you have any units to spare?" Cassie asks and Quill guffaws.  
"Baby girl, I'm as rich as Tony out here. If the Guardians knew that though, they would never leave me alone." He throws a few zargnuts into his mouth as he kicks his feet up onto the table.  
Cassie, in the meantime, discovered the food that Quill handed her wasn't half bad and finished it easily. "Are you going to give them some?"  
"Already transferred ten thousand to Rocket. It's enough to shut them up for a while."

The teen nods and grabs the deck of cards from the night before, and plays a game of solitaire while Quill roams the ship after finishing his own food. Despite the weird things it came up with in the thirty years he was gone, Earth was one of the places with better food and was one of the reasons he looked forward to going home. Besides his family of course. One couldn't get prime rib just anywhere.

Quill finally got the alert that his ship was finished fueling, and made a quick check of the job before telling Cassie to find a chair in the cockpit and planting her butt in it. When he went up to plant his own ass in the captain's chair, he was pleased to see the teen was even buckled in so he was able to take off pretty quickly. Once it was safe to roam the ship again as they made their way to their first destination, they both got up and went back down below to play a card game. Cassie was unnervingly good at poker and Quill made a mental note to figure out how she had such a good poker face and who was teaching her to count cards.

His money was on Tony. Who knew what that man taught Cassie during the five years Scott wasn't around.

"Royal Flush." Cassie announces with a smirk as she lays out her cards.  
"The fuck?! I'm done playing poker with you!" Quill throws his cards at the teen for her to collect and shuffle and she giggles. "Deal out for Go Fish or something."  
"Hey…" Cassie starts and Quill lifts an eyebrow in question. "Can you check on Dad?"  
Quill cringes. "He's probably flipping his lid but sure."

What was nice about his Gaze was that he didn't check out when he was using it. He was still able to use it while he continued playing card games with Cassie, and he was right. Scott looked ready to lose his mind.

==============

"Scott...please don't wear a hole in our carpet." Stephen says calmly as he turns a page in his book.  
"Tony said he got a message from Quill that Cassie was with him! _In space!_ " The thief nearly screeches.  
"I understand your worry but you know Quill would never let anything happen to her." The sorcerer returns one of his hands to Athena's head, who had rested it on his lap the moment he sat down.

Scott huffs and drops his hand from his mouth and stops his pacing to drop onto the couch next to Stephen. He had a point. Quill was just as protective of Cassie as he was over Scott, and he knew how extreme that protectiveness got. The celestial would throw himself between his daughter and whatever danger threatened her, and even if Cassie somehow managed to get hurt, Quill would be able to help her. The scary thought was knowing Quill would possibly obliterate a planet if Cassie was ever kidnapped out there and they refused to hand her over. If that were the case, the god would find their daughter, get her to safety, _then_ wreak havoc.

"Can you open--" Scott starts to ask.  
"No." Stephen interrupts immediately. "Space is too vast and I can't open a gateway to the ship either. It's a moving vehicle so I don't know where it is. Pictures don't always work."  
The thief sighs heavily. "Didn't hurt to ask."  
"There's no use stressing over it. She's with Quill, and if she somehow comes home hurt then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."  
"What if it were one of your kids?" Scott bites out and Stephen levels him with a look.  
"Two of my kids would very likely purposely smuggle themselves onto the ship, one can use magic to defend herself, and the other wouldn't leave my side long enough for that to happen."

He and Scott look to the opposite side that Scott was sitting and glance at the little girl sandwiched between Athena and the couch. Her head snuggled into the doctor's side and being kept warm by the wolf laying next to her as she took her afternoon nap. Another good point. Harley and Peter would purposely find a way to go out into space (Peter having already accidentally-purposely doing just that during the war for the stones), and Diana had her magic.

Stephen knew his children well and actually wouldn't stress if one of them were in Cassie's place. As long as someone he knew and trusted was with them, he didn't worry as much. Scott knew his daughter. If she didn't want to be in space, she would have asked Quill to bring her back home and he would have. At least she wasn't missing any school.

"Where are your trolls anyway?" Scott asks.  
"Picking up sandwiches from Mr. Delmar's."  
"They're going all the way to Queens for sandwiches?"  
"Peter swears by them and he's been a loyal customer for years."  
"At least Cassie is satisfied with keeping the nearest Starbucks in business." Scott mumbles and Stephen smiles.  
"Don't forget about Target."  
"Dia is just as bad."  
"Because of Cassie."  
"Ok. Fair." Scott relents.  
"Just stay calm. Quill will take care of her. In the meantime, you're more than welcome to have dinner with us."

Scott nods and motions toward the tv and Stephen waves at him lazily with his permission. After finding a movie to watch, the thief sat back with his feet on the coffee table and did his best to not worry too much about Cassie. Stephen was right. She was with Quill...and he was one of the most powerful beings in the universe.

===============

Quill and Cassie abandoned card games for outside when they arrived at their destination, and the pirate gave the girl permission to accompany him since the planet was like Morag. Ruins. Only a few harmless animals were in the vicinity and Quill was there to find some kind of artifact.

Hopefully not some secret weapon again.

"It's pretty." Cassie says as they vault over a fallen tree. Well, Quill vaulted, Cassie needed a hand once the celestial was over.  
"Yeah, I guess it is." Quill shrugs and she gives him a look.  
"There are planets prettier than this one?"

Quill leads the way, and looks around their surroundings at the multitudes of greenery and other colors. It was a lot like the forests on Earth but the alien plants and flowers had bright colors that made it obvious they weren't actually on Earth. As well as the man eating plants. They weren't actually man eating, they were harmless. They were just big enough to eat Cassie. She quickly figured out they were harmless when Quill walked past them without worry and without warning her to be careful.

"Why aren't there...people?" She asks.  
"Not sure. There's a few explanations for the planet to be uninhabited. Disease, famine, war...Thanos…" Quill cringes a bit at the name. It was very likely the titan visited this planet before the war for the stones and slaughtered those that dwelled here.  
"What about if the planet was dying?" Cassie asks from a little further away than the celestial expected.

He turns around and finds Cassie a few feet away and inspecting one of the large plants that looked unhealthy. Quill doubles back to join her and inspects the plant himself, and frowns when he finds the roots of it and nearby plants blackening. Disease. Something not even the planet could overcome.

"The planet might have a few more years, but it will eventually wither away and die." Quill finally says and motions for Cassie to follow him.

She frowns at his conclusion but follows him through the forest until they come across a large stone building in ruins. Quill didn't even need any tools to break into the building this time. The building was in such bad shape that he just delivered a swift quick to the wall and it gave way, dust and dirt flying up into a cloud around them when the rocks fell to the ground. Cassie coughs as she waves the dust away from her face and then sneezes when it tickles her nose.

"Sorry baby girl." Quill steps into the ruins and looks around, finding the artifact the dealer described to him lying on the ground. "This place has been abandoned for a really long time." 

He stashes the totem like artifact into his bag and points back toward the hole he made just thirty seconds ago. They head back toward the ship, Cassie glancing at the sick plant with sympathy as they passed it, and then follows Quill back to the ship. When they get back, Quill throws his bag into the ship and nods in agreement when Cassie asks if they can sleep outside for the night. It was safe enough and he wouldn't take away the experience whenever he could help it. So he grabbed a couple of sleeping bags off the ship and had Cassie lay them out while he built a fire and started their dinner.

"Cass, come here." Quill calls from a tree a few yards away from their makeshift camp. When she joins him, he moves her directly in front of him and places one of his blasters in her hands. "Wouldn't hurt to teach you how to properly shoot my guns while you're out here."  
"Wait...really?"  
Quill points past her. "See that dead branch on the tree straight ahead?" When she nods he drops his arm. "Shoot it."

Cassie raises his gun, aims, and then shoots, frowning when the beam misses the target completely. Quill gently assures her that space guns were harder to use than Earth's firearms and simply moved her arm accordingly and showed her how to properly aim. She hit the target on her second attempt, and Quill walked back to the fire to check on their dinner while she continued to practice. He wouldn't arm her if he could help it, but at least she would know how to use the weapons if she needed to.

"I thought you said you had to help the Guardians with a job." Cassie says as she rejoins him at the fire and returns his gun to him.  
"I do. That's our next stop. We're meeting them, and that's gonna be a time I need you to stay on the ship." Quill fills a bowl with some kind of stew he made and hands it to her.  
"I'm not arguing, but how come?" She asks.  
"We've been hired to killed some kind of creature. It's been stomping all over town."  
"Sounds big."  
"Yeah. A big pain in the ass." Quill takes a few bites of his stew before pointing at Cassie with his spoon. "Don't tell your dad I taught you how to shoot guns."  
"What are you talking about?" She wonders in feigned innocence.

Quill grins and they finish their dinner, and while Cassie goes into the ship to change into her pajamas, Quill wanders a few yards away from camp before stopping. He takes a deep breath and then wills his powers into being before focusing them toward the planet. He uses his light to look for the source of the planet's sickness, and when he finally finds it, he purifies the disease until nothing remains. Quill comes out of his trance with a shaky breath as he watches the tendrils of light recede back to him, and he leans against the nearest tree to catch his breath. Healing planets always took a lot out of him and he hadn't even planned on helping this one until Cassie asked to camp out on it for the night. If he fell into a deep sleep to recover at least she would be safe until he woke up in the morning.

"Papa?" Quill cracks his eyes open, not even realizing he had closed them, and grunts out in answer. "Come on. I'll help you."

The celestial throws his arm around Cassie's shoulder and allows her to lead them back the few feet to camp (it felt like a mile), and he immediately collapses onto the sleeping bag Cassie had completely laid out. As she pulls the second one over them, he passes out as soon as his head hits the pillow, his purr like snores filling the air around them.


	3. Chapter 3

To his surprise, Quill woke up by himself and on time. He even felt refreshed despite all of the energy he used the night before. So he got up and packed up camp so Cassie could sleep in just a little longer, and was putting the last of their things on the ship when she woke up. Quill told her just to go inside and buckle in so they could head to their next destination, and she did so after picking up her sleeping bag. Cassie threw it off to the side and strapped into a chair upstairs, and once the pirate gave her the go ahead to get up and roam, she disappeared back downstairs.

She didn't come back up as fast as she usually did so Quill got a little concerned and put his ship on autopilot so he could go check on her. There was really no need to though. When he went down below, he found her freshly showered and dressed and rolling up the sleeping bag to put away, so he just opened the door to the food storage instead. He had cereal, and even though they didn't have any milk, they were both content to eat it dry and by the handfuls as Cassie tidied up the ship (and Quill was suddenly glad he didn't have that black light. He and Scott made a whole new Pollock painting), and the celestial got his guns and other weapons and tools ready. Rocket left him a message telling him it was similar to the creature they killed for the Sovereign, and that meant he couldn't use his powers unless it was necessary. The moment he lit up was the moment the creature came after him.

"You know what I do miss about home?" Cassie suddenly says as Quill clips a grenade to his belt.  
"Your dad?"  
The teen snorts. "I love my dad but I'm not addicted to him like you are."  
"You'll find someone like that when you're older." Quill says with a smirk.  
" _Anyway_ , I could really go for a pumpkin spice frappuccino."  
"I'm suddenly very glad you're with me in space right now...if only for the sole reason to keep you away from that garbage." Quill furrows his brows and looks over at Cassie. "Hold on, those aren't even in season."  
"How do you even know that?" Cassie asks in a teasing tone.  
" _Because you're always drinking them!_ I'm gonna notice when you finally stop drinking them! It's not hard to put the pieces together for that." The pirate argues and the girl laughs.

The rest of the trip to their next destination was spent doing the same thing. Light conversation, Cassie finding something to busy herself with, and Quill getting ready for the fight ahead. A few minutes away from landing, the teen was looking through the alien food thoughtfully and Quill immediately knew what that look meant. She was curious to see if she could make something with it. Better than what the celestial offered at least. He was currently the better cook in space, but he was still more of a barbecuer than a pan frier. Maybe if he bought some alien food on their way home, he could let the teen experiment with it and see if she can make better meals for him to take. She already did that with Earth food, and he certainly ate a lot better since joining the Avengers and starting a relationship with Scott.

He was damn lucky that Cassie enjoyed taking care of her large group of parents. Four dads and two moms (or at least a literal mom and then someone who fit the title extremely well for a man), and even Diana. She and Cassie were nearly inseparable because they were raised together during the snap.

"We'll pick some extra food up for you to experiment with." Quill says and Cassie nods at him with a smile.

He directs her up to the cockpit so he can land the ship, and once he touches down on a small expanse of land near his other ship that the Guardians were using, he looks out the window. It was a desert planet with not a lot of foliage, and it made Quill wonder what an energy eating creature was doing here. His best guess was that someone came here with it and released it to cause problems.

Which unfortunately worked because now he and the Guardians were here to kill it.

Pain in the ass indeed.

"What kind of...monster...did you say it was?" Cassie asks skeptically.  
"One attracted to energy. Like my powers or the batteries the Sovereign have." Quill replies as they walk toward the door of the ship.  
"The Sovereign?"  
"Bunch of uptight assholes I'll never let you meet as long as I can help it." The celestial opens the door and lowers the ramp. "You know the rules. Stay on the ship unless I tell you otherwise."  
"I know. How long will this take?" Cassie asks.  
"Hopefully we can lure it and kill it in the next couple of hours."  
"And then?"  
"We go back to Xandar, refuel, get you some food to play with, and then head home." Quill answers.  
"Didn't you tell Dad two weeks?"  
"Yeah, well, that changed when I found a stowaway."

Cassie blushes and mutters an apology to which Quill waves her away. It was no problem. He was able to give the majority of his errands to his friends because of it, and it also meant he could get home to Scott a lot sooner. Quill steps off the ship and walks a couple hundred yards away to join his friends and looks around. There was enough space to bring down the creature and it was far enough away from the ships that he wasn't too worried about Cassie's safety.

"How are we doing on getting it here?" He asks and Rocket gives him a look.  
"We were kind of hoping you could use your light show."  
"Dude-"  
"The faster we get it here the faster you can go home to your Terran."  
"Ugh...fine."

Quill barely willed his powers into physical form before they heard what sounded like a stampede. The celestial gives Nebula a look, and their eyes widen when not one but _multiple_ energy sucking creatures barreled toward them. Quill dismissed his powers in favor of one of his grenades and threw one at the group as he turned to look at Rocket.

"What the hell?! You said creature! As in _one_! Not CREATURES!" The god yells.  
Rocket winces as Drax belts out a battle yell and runs toward the creatures after the grenade blows some of them up. "There may have been some miscommunication."  
"Obviously! Did you even listen?!" Quill holds up his guns and starts to pick off the ones that manage to get by Drax and Nebula.  
"I am Groot!" Groot says.  
"You fell asleep while they were--" The celestial starts.  
"You try not to fall asleep when they speak slower than space tar!" Rocket yells.  
"Damn trash panda."  
"I heard that!"  
"Good! You were supposed to!"

They stop their bickering to focus on the multitudes of what were basically smaller versions of the Sovereign creature, but there were a lot more than Quill originally thought. They were actually getting overwhelmed by them and the celestial was getting more and more concerned about his kid's safety. If they got past him, they might go for the ships since they had fuel...so he did the one thing he could think of to get the monsters attention off the rest of the Guardians. He willed his powers into being and it worked like a charm. Every single one of the slimy bastards left one of his friends behind and turned their attention to their glowing feast.

Quill fully expected the tackle to the ground and did what he could to keep the aliens from eating him alive while the others picked them off. He couldn't die permanently, but being eaten alive would be pretty painful and he wasn't down with letting that happen. Despite having the attention of what was left of the large group of aliens, the Guardians were still having trouble killing them. They still had thick hides for adolescent monsters.

"Shit!" 

Quill grabs the snapping jaws of the closest alien when it gets too close for comfort, and tries using his pillars of light to help kill them. It helped injure them with the first strike, but it was enough for someone to shoot off the pile on top of him and blast them away. When he looks up to see who had given him some relief, he raises an eyebrow when Mantis points in the direction of the ships. There, on top of the Milano, stood Cassie with one of the bigger guns and Quill smirks.

"That's my girl."

Killing off the rest of their bounty didn't take much longer after that. Quill took care of a majority of them with his powers once he got back up, and the ones he only managed to injure were killed by the others. Even a couple by Cassie and he was impressed with her accuracy. Once the last one fell, Quill groans in disgust and wipes off a glob of alien guts from his coat.

"There. You can go let the people know these bastards are taken care of. Next time, FUCKING LISTEN!" Quill shouts at Rocket who glares in return.  
"Yeah, yeah. Go take your kid home."  
"I'll transfer some of the reward units to you when we get them." Nebula says and Quill nods and walks away with a flippant wave over his shoulder. When he gets to his ship, he finds Cassie putting away the gun and she turns to him with a smug grin.  
"Technically I stayed on the ship."  
Quill guffaws. "You would find a loophole. Come on. Let's take off so I can go take a long shower and get into some clean clothes."

Cassie nods and sits in one of the chairs, and Quill takes off as quickly as possible so he can put the ship on autopilot. When he stands up, the teen offers to clean the seat and the celestial thanks her before heading down to take a quick shower. He couldn't sit and enjoy it since it used limited water reserves, but at least it was hot. Quill peels off his clothes and steps into the shower after grabbing some clean clothes, and after thoroughly scrubbing himself down, he gets out and dresses in some pajamas. He was fully intending on taking a well deserved nap since it was a long way back to Xandar. If Cassie needed him, she would wake him up.

With that comforting thought, Quill collapsed face first onto his bed and was out like a light. Cassie only woke him up a little while later to make sure he ate something, but he stayed up until it was actually time for bed. It would take about a day to get to Xandar anyway.

"Nice shot by the way." Quill says around a bite of food. "I was legitimately impressed."  
"I was aiming for you." His daughter sasses and he chuckles in response.  
"That's how you aim with alien weapons."


	4. Chapter 4

"Do we _have_ to go home already?" Cassie asks as she obnoxiously rolls around on the bed and Quill sits on the edge.  
"What are you...stop. You're like a puppy. Maybe I should keep you from hanging out with Harley and Peter." Quill shoves her off the bed and she lands on the floor with a startled 'oof'.  
"Ow. Rude." The celestial snorts and grabs one of his shirts for her and throws it over his shoulder at her. "No looking."  
"I don't _want_ to look. Just get changed so we can go to bed."

Cassie does so and crawls into bed as Quill changes into his own sleeping clothes, and he gets into bed. This time the teen immediately snuggled into his side for warmth before they fell asleep and they slept soundly.

For about three hours.

Quill was rudely awakened when both he and Cassie were thrown off the bed, and the god groans when his head hits the wall. Thankfully the teen had landed on him and was unharmed, but she was still a little dazed from whatever had disturbed their sleep. That was soon answered when Quill felt the ship get hit and he curses as he stumbles to his feet and rushes out of the room and up to the cockpit. That's where he discovered that a traveling quantum asteroid field had moved in the path of the ship's autopilot course. 

"Fuck! Cassie get up here and buckle in! Now!" Quill yells as he jumps into his seat and takes the ship off autopilot.

He didn't have time to wait for her to get into a seat. Quill had to fly through the field as safely as possible and was relieved when Cassie managed to join him and buckle in. The poor thing was only dressed in his t-shirt, and even though it was big enough to cover her adequately, she was still probably freezing. That was the least of his worries though. Especially when part of his ship was smoking from the couple of rocks that hit it when they were sleeping. Quill needed to find a planet to land on and fast.

He caught a glimpse of one when he made it through the asteroid field, and turned toward it, causing his ship to falter and start failing. It was Berhert all over again but he didn't know if this was a habitable planet. So when they were seconds away from crashing onto the surface, Quill unbuckled himself and grabbed a space suit stashed nearby, and jumped over to Cassie. He managed to put the space suit on her and cover her with his body before the ship crashed, and he blacked out.

"...pa...Papa!" Quill gasps when he comes to and feels Cassie shaking him. He looks at the teen after sitting up, noticing that she had vacated her seat to wake him.  
"Cassie...are you okay?" He manages to ask.  
"Just cold."  
"Fuck. Hang on." 

Quill gets up with a groan and looks around the ship to assess the damage. It was still in one piece thankfully but it would still take time to repair. Exposed wires sparked, parts of the ship walls were missing and considering he wasn't suffocating, he assumed the air was safe to breathe. He made sure to use the control panel to double check his theory and it confirmed his assumption, and he also uses it to check the condition of the fuel tanks. They were miraculously in perfect condition so they didn't lose any fuel in the crash.

The celestial wills some embers of light into his hand to explore the ship as it was currently dark on the planet and the emergency lights weren't very bright. He carefully takes the stairs down after telling Cassie not to move and makes his way into the bedroom. Quill wanted to make sure there weren't any holes to let in more cold air before he had his daughter coming back and getting back into bed to stay warm.

"Baby girl, do you need light to get down here?" He calls up.  
"No. Yours is bright enough." She answers.  
"Alright. Come here and be careful." Cassie rejoins him about a minute later and he points to the bed after taking the space suit off of her. "Get back in bed. I'll leave some of my light here as extra warmth."  
"What are you going to do?" She asks.  
"Figure out what planet we're on and start making repairs. Holler if you need me." Quill answers.

Cassie nods and does as she's told, bundling up on the bed and closing her eyes to try and go back to sleep. Quill creates a bigger light to float near her and provide warmth before he leaves the room and he checks the control panel to see where exactly they had landed. What popped up on screen had the celestial staring at it for a good few seconds before cursing up a storm.

They actually crash landed on Berhert.

"I fucking hate this planet."

At least they wouldn't be attacked here...and they could breathe. Quill decided he wouldn't bother with starting repairs until morning, so he went back into the bedroom and slipped back into bed after making the light in his hand go out. Cassie wasted no time cuddling up to him and he didn't blame her one bit. He could feel how cold she was and that wasn't including the occasional shiver that rippled through her. The cold didn't affect him as much since he was a living, breathing heater and he would let his kid take advantage of the heat he gave off.

"I thought you were going to start repairs?" Cassie mumbles.  
"In the morning. We're safe here. Warm up Sunshine."  
"Getting there."

Then they really did sleep soundly for the rest of the night. Cassie basically glomped onto him the entire time, but it didn't bother Quill since Scott did that on a regular basis. In fact, he hardly noticed. Cassie was just a little smaller than what he was used to. When he woke up later that morning, he didn't dare move until Cassie woke up. Quill didn't want a chill to be what woke her up, especially after she was already thrown out of bed. When she did finally wake up, Quill dismissed the light floating nearby and got dressed so he could start repairs on the Milano. Knowing Cassie, she would get dressed and get some food together and pull Quill away from his task to make sure he ate.

"So how long before we start heading home again?"  
Quill looks up from the tool he's using to make repairs to the ship, and away from watching the ship seemingly mend itself. "It's not as bad as it could have been. We should be heading out by tonight at the latest."  
"Anything I can do to help?" The teen hands him some food and he shuts off the device to eat breakfast.  
"Things were thrown around. You could put things back as best you can."  
"Aren't you supposed to be the best pilot in the galaxy?" Cassie teases and Quill points at her.  
"I am. I'd like to see you or anyone else fly through a quantum asteroid field with a damaged ship and come out better than we did. I could've flown with my--"  
"Oh my god! Stop! Why are you like this?!" She interrupts loudly and Quill laughs.

She huffs fondly and returns inside the ship to start cleaning up after they finish eating, and Quill works on mending the outside of the ship. His plan was to fix the exterior of his ship and then work on the damage inside so at least there wasn't a breeze going in and making things colder for Cassie than they had to be. The exterior only took a couple of hours, and by the time he got inside, Cassie had cleaned up a good chunk of what had been thrown around. Whatever was left was either too heavy or were parts she wasn't sure were safe to handle or not.

Then he saw her reaching for a specific drawer in the bedroom that contained certain items and had Quill diving across the bed and grabbing her wrist. Cassie gives him a look of bewilderment when the god hits his head on the small nightstand and groans.

" _Ow…_ "  
"What is your deal?!"  
"If you open that drawer, you will be opening the Pandora's Box of mine and your dad's sex life."  
Cassie instantly yanks her hand away from the nightstand and Quill with a look of disgust. "Why do you even have that stuff here? I thought Dad didn't come out to space with you!"  
"He doesn't. We still do things on the ship when I'm home--"  
"Okay! Okay! I don't want to hear it!" She looks at the bed suspiciously. "When's the last time you washed the sheets?"  
Quill snickers. "They're clean."

Cassie heaves out a sigh of relief and continues cleaning after making sure there was nothing else she should be opening. Quill got up and finished repairing the ship, and night fell by the time they were both done. When the celestial took a look around the ship, he was surprised to see that it was even cleaner than it had been before they had crashed. Even a little organized. Quill had to wonder if Cassie snuck cleaning supplies onto the ship at some point because he didn't have any of that and his ship almost sparkled.

That rubbed him the wrong way. 

"You know your dad and I are going to make a mess of this when we get home."

Cassie groans from somewhere on the ship and Quill cackles.

"Stop torturing me or I really am going to move upstairs into Diana's room!"  
"Tony and Stephen aren't any better. You know they've done it on the kitchen counter right?"  
"NO! Why do _you_ know that?!" Cassie screeches.  
"I walked in on them."  
"I don't want to talk about this!"  
"What? You don't want to hear about how your pseudo mom is a--"

A bottle of cleaning solution flies at him from one of the storage rooms and smacks him on the side of his head and he rubs it. Well that answered his earlier question. Cassie was ruining the Pollock art he and Scott made on his ship.

"Ow."  
"You deserved that."


	5. Chapter 5

Scott took to staying up in the penthouse more and more the longer Quill and Cassie stayed in space. By the third day, Stephen gave him a pillow and a blanket so he could sleep on the couch and Scott didn't bother leaving. His floor was too quiet without his husband or daughter there, and he much preferred to live upstairs for a few days just for the noise and the knowledge that there were others around. Although Stephen soothed some of his worry the first day Quill left and he found out Cassie had accidentally gone along for the trip, Scott never really stopped with his worrying. It started to take its toll on him too.

That was why he was sitting with his legs crossed on the kitchen counter, and fiddling with circuit boards in his lap. He had been so focused on his task that when a cool hand pressed against his forehead, Scott actually stopped and looked up at Stephen.

"What are you doing?"  
"Checking your temperature. You only sit on my kitchen counter like this when you're feeling under the weather." The sorcerer responds as he drops his hand.  
"I'm fine."  
"You do feel a little warm." Stephen says as he rounds the counter to start some water for his tea. He looks at Athena, who had followed him into the kitchen and points to the side end of the island counter the thief is taking up. "Down."

The wolf dutifully obeys his command and lays down by the end of the counter and Scott returns his attention to the board in his lap. He didn't bother arguing with Stephen about his health as it would be a lost cause. The man was a doctor and had a sixth sense about these things that seemed to evolve from his children to the entire team. No one could hide an illness from him.

"Where's the baby?" Scott asks.  
"Taking a nap. Did you eat today?" The younger man blinks as he tries to think about if he did or not and Stephen sighs. "I didn't think so. I'll make lunch and you're going to eat it."  
"Yeah, okay, _Mom_."

Stephen chuckles as he makes and pours his tea and then starts on lunch for the two of them. The next few minutes pass quietly and Scott puffs out his cheeks as he works. He didn't even know why he was getting frustrated. He wasn't even sure what he was doing with the circuits.

"They'll be back soon." Stephen says quietly and Scott sighs and looks up at him.  
"I know. Sorry for crashing on your couch...it's just too quiet. Cass and I usually had our own special time together whenever Quill was gone but now she's with him."  
"On a positive note, she gets to spend one on one time with him for more than a weekend when you're out of town for work."  
Scott huffs. "Yeah...out in space that is supposedly too dangerous."

The thief hops down from the counter when Stephen finishes making their sandwiches and sits in a chair to eat, thanking the sorcerer when he hands him a Capri Sun from the fridge. Scott stabs the straw into the pouch and drinks it mindlessly as he stares off into the distance, barely noticing when Stephen sits in the chair next to him. If space was so dangerous, why didn't Quill bring Cassie straight back? He was always so adamant about the rule of keeping them out of space and yet he was out there with Cassie doing who knows what. Scott was pretty confident that Quill wouldn't put her in harm's way though.

"Scott. Eat your sandwich. I _will_ treat you like you're five."  
Scott huffs out a laugh. "Alright. Alright."

===================

"You better not be touching buttons." Quill says as he joins Cassie in the cockpit.  
"No. Just enjoying the view while I can." She says and accepts the food the celestial hands to her.

Quill looks out the window at the endless sea of stars in front of them after sitting in the captain's chair and kicks his feet up near the controls. Cassie was in the adjacent seat bundled up in a blanket and munching on the food he gave her and gazing out the window with a thoughtful expression. One he wasn't sure how to interpret.

"Yeah, I guess you can't see this in New York. Too many lights." He finally responds.  
"I'm gonna miss this. It was fun."  
"Yeah? It was definitely different having company with me for once. I haven't traveled with the Guardians in a long time. Everytime I come out here, I'm by myself." Quill looks over at Cassie. "You know this can't happen again. I'll be looking for stowaways after this."  
"Yeah...I know."

They continue to stargaze for a little while and Earth soon comes into view, growing bigger by the second. They would be home within the hour and Quill wasn't sure if a murderous husband was waiting for him. The couple of times after the first that he checked on the younger man, he always seemed relatively calm so it was a toss up.

"Papa?"  
"Hmm?"  
"I think you should bring Dad out here. At least just once...and even if it's just outside Earth like this." The teen says quietly. "I think he'd really like it."  
Quill smirks. "I'll think about it."

He pulls his feet down and directs the girls to buckle in and takes the ship off autopilot right before they hit the Earth's atmosphere. He flies the ship back to the tower and gently lands it in the hangar before powering down the ship. Cassie and Quill get up from their seats and step off the ship after the teen returns the blanket to the captain's quarters, and Cassie is immediately greeted with a hug from Scott.

"You okay peanut?" Scott pulls away to gently grab her face and look her over.  
"Ouch." Quill mumbles.  
"I'm fine. Papa took care of me."

Scott drops his hands and Cassie walks away to go see Stephen and Peter, and the thief turns to look up at his celestial husband. Quill puts on his best poker face as he waits for whatever outburst was coming, but Scott surprised him by pulling his head down for a kiss. He wasn't sure what it was for though. A welcome home kiss? A thank-you-for-protecting-their-daughter kiss? Maybe it was both.

"I missed you too?" Quill says when they finally pull away from each other.  
"I'd ask what happened out there but I probably don't want to know."  
"She did almost open the drawer." Quill informs him and Scott blanches.  
"I told you to put a lock on that!"  
"I said almost!"  
"Whatever. I don't care about that right now."

Scott wraps his arms around the god tightly and nuzzles his face into the older man's neck. Quill loved coming home to this. To Scott in his arms and the smell of mint and oranges filling his nose and soothing his stress away. Contrary to popular belief, they didn't always jump straight into bed when Quill got home from space. Sometimes they curled up next to each other or cuddled on the couch just to enjoy the others presence and...bask.

"So we need to redecorate the ship." Quill says with a chuckle and can feel Scott wrinkle his nose in confusion.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Cassie cleaned...she somehow snuck cleaning supplies onto the ship."  
"Oh… _oh_!" Scott moves away from his neck to kiss him. "Later big guy. I shouldn't even be down here. Mama Bear wants me to stay in bed."  
Quill arches a brow. "Are you guys getting freaky behind mine and Tony's back?"

Scott punches him in the gut and Quill groans and bends over a bit after the younger walks away toward the elevator.

"Babe! I'm kidding! Ow…" 

The celestial follows Scott and they take the elevator up to the penthouse where they find Cassie and Peter curled up on the couch and watching TV, and Stephen sitting at the kitchen table with Diana. Valerie was sitting in her high chair contently eating Cheerios one by one while her sister ate chicken nuggets and broccoli, and Stephen looked up at the couple.

"Welcome home. I'm surprised you didn't get back on the ship."  
"I told him you wanted me in bed."   
"Up here? That's probably best. I know all about the drawer."

Quill and Scott look at the sorcerer in genuine surprise.

The god was the first to speak. "The hell? How?"  
"You remember when you had me get that elixir off your ship when you got sick? I stumbled upon the drawer." Stephen says with a smirk. "All I can say at the moment is wow."

Scott blushes bright red and covers his face before walking over to one of the vacant couches. So Stephen knew (to some extent) how kinky he and Quill got but at least that was a lot better than his daughter knowing. The things in that drawer would traumatize her for life. It was already bad enough that she had heard them for a few seconds on a couple of occasions, and immediately afterwards she would call Stephen to portal her to wherever they were. Both times she would have been stuck in her room otherwise.

"Please don't talk about it! I can still hear you guys!" Cassie complains and slaps Peter when he snickers. "It's bad enough that Papa tortured me."  
Scott looks over at Quill in bewilderment. "Quill! What did you say to her?!"  
"Well I did mention when I walked in on Tony and Stephen--"  
Stephen's head snaps to Quill's direction and he points at him. "Athena!"  
"Nonono!"

Quill shouts in horror and makes a beeline to the door for the stairs when the wolf chases after him. He really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut when kids were around.

"You can come back up when dinner is ready!" Stephen calls after him before the door shuts.  
"He deserves that." Cassie says with a grin. "But for what it's worth...I had fun with him."  
Scott smiles. "I'm glad to hear that."  
"Even when we crashed."  
"What?!" Scott shouts and Stephen snorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! Let me know if you enjoyed it!


End file.
